


Waltz

by percyspandapillowpet



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Nico and Will all dressed up, Valentine's Day, cameo from the aphrodite cabin, sorry this is kind of late
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 13:38:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9740729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/percyspandapillowpet/pseuds/percyspandapillowpet
Summary: The handwriting was scrawly and round, barely legible, and somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t connect it to a name. After he deciphered the message, he nearly dropped it.Be my Valentine? XoxoAnd no signature. No hint at all as to who it could possibly be from.Obviously, then, it wasn’t really meant for him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to spread out the work for this between three days, but it still sounds sort of rushed and it's not as good as I wanted to be. Nevertheless, enjoy :)

****Nico much preferred October thirty-first over February fourteenth.

He woke up, realized what day it was, and groaned. Why couldn’t he just stay in bed all day, again? Was there really a good reason to go outside?

He could already hear voices outside his cabin—giggling, snickering. He wondered what could possibly be going on. He had heard something about a Valentine’s Day dance, but that wasn’t supposed to be until after dinner. He glanced over to his clock, which confirmed that he hadn’t slept in _that_ much. It was only noon.

The chatting outside didn’t stop, so he groaned, rolled over, and forced himself out of bed. The wooden floor combined with the February air was cold on his feet. _Hot coffee would be nice,_ he decided, and headed over to the mini-kitchen he had installed last September.

The Keurig was brewing when he noticed the yellow piece of paper. It was small, a square post-it note, that someone had obviously shoved underneath his door overnight. Leaving his mug on the machine, he crouched down to inspect it.

The handwriting was scrawly and round, barely legible, and somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t connect it to a name. After he deciphered the message, he nearly dropped it.

_Be my Valentine? Xoxo_

And no signature. No hint at all as to who it could possibly be from.

Obviously, then, it wasn’t really meant for him. If someone wanted to go to the dance with him or something, they would sign their name, right? Otherwise he would never know. It had to be a joke. A cruel joke, one meant to make Nico realize how terribly alone he was going to be today, but a joke all the same. He crumpled the note and threw it in the trash, not even bothering with one last glance.

Forget going outside, forget getting dressed. He wasn’t going to make an effort today, if this was how he was going to be treated. He wasn’t even going to leave his cabin.

***

“Nico? Nico, are you in there?”

He didn’t bother getting up. He was sprawled across his bed, craning his neck to read the book he held against his stomach. It was one of the many things Will Solace had given him—stuff like movies, books, and DVDs—to “catch up with the times.” His words, not Nico’s.

And Nico knew that’s who was currently banging at his door, knocking profusely and repeatedly calling his name. Normally, his friends would give up after a few minutes of no response, but Will was a persistent one. He wasn’t going to quit anytime soon.

“Come in,” Nico shouted.

The door creaked, and Will stepped through. He looked…well, he was dressed in a light gray-blue suit that fit him _perfectly,_ and Nico sort of choked on his own breath and immediately felt self-conscious of his black flannel pajama pants.

Will’s eyes landed on him and widened in surprise. “Nico! Oh, I, uh…” He looked him up and down, taking in the pajamas and the messy bedhead and the book in his hand, and Nico’s face heated up. “I guess you don’t want to, then.”

Nico immediately sat up, closing the book and brushing off his shirt. “Want to what?”

Will gestured to himself, chuckling nervously. “You know. The dance.”

“What?” Nico just stared at him. “What do you mean? Why would I go to the dance?”

Will glanced around the room, completely red-faced, until he spotted something and walked over to the trashcan. “Oh,” he said. “So you did see the note.”

Nico rose from his bed and stepped over the pile of dirty clothes on his floor. “That note? That was…you?”

Will snatched it out of the trash and held it up to Nico’s face, huffing. “Are you kidding me? Who did you _think_ it was from?” Then, grumbling, he crumpled it up and threw it back down. “Forget it, Nico.”

But Nico didn’t want to forget it. Just as Will turned to leave, his head hung in defeat, Nico reached out and grabbed onto one of his hands. “Wait.”

Will didn’t face him, but he didn’t shake his hand off. “What?” He sounded so upset that Nico wanted to hug him.

“Will, I didn’t know,” he said. “I thought it was a prank. I thought the note was a joke, like, somebody trying to make me feel bad.”

There was a brief moment of silence, and Will still wouldn’t look at him, and Nico almost went into a full-blown panic. He almost started talking again, and probably would’ve completely fumbled over his words, when Will finally turned back around. And he was grinning.

“Nico, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He took Nico’s other hand in his own, sending a jolt of electricity up Nico’s spine. “I had imagined this more romantic, to be honest. I was going to pick you up at the door, and we’d both be dressed up all fancy—”

Nico snorted. “You could’ve specified that on your little sticky note.”

Will groaned. “I know, I know. It was pretty stupid of me to expect you to understand. And to know that it was me, I guess.” He hesitated. “So, um, what do you say?”

“What?”

Will took a step closer, still grinning, but fidgeting with his hands a little more and not making direct eye contact. “Will you be my Valentine?”

This was Will, Nico realized, _asking him out._ He choked a little before he could respond.

“Yes,” he said, trying to sound confident, though his voice was wavering. “Yes, I will.”  
Will smiled. “Good.” He let go of his hands and gestured to the pajamas. “Now, get yourself cleaned up and I’ll be back in ten minutes, ‘kay?” Then he was out the door in a matter of seconds.

Nico suddenly panicked. What was he going to do? How was he supposed to dress up when he didn’t own a single suit or tie? And, oh gods, how was he supposed to know how to _dance?_

That’s when he heard another knock on his door. _Maybe it’s Will cancelling,_ he thought, and rushed over to open it.

But it wasn’t Will. It was Piper, along with a few siblings, who immediately stepped in and crowded him.

“What’s—what’s going on?” Nico asked.

Piper had already begun taking his measurements, wrapping a tape around his waist, along his leg, from head to toe. A younger girl with braces was standing on tiptoes to run a comb through his hair. A boy ran over to his bed and dumped a pile of clothes out of his arms, and another followed him, shouting something about why black would look more sophisticated than gray.

“We’re getting you ready,” Piper replied. “This is the Aphrodite cabin’s little way of saying thank you after finally agreeing to go out with Will Solace.”

That just left Nico in even more confusion. “ _What?_ ”

Piper shook her head, but she was hiding a smile. “No time for questions. Let’s get you dressed—Mitchell!”

The boy with all the clothes—Mitchell—brought over a few things from the bed and held them out to Piper. The other kid with him handed her a tie. Then Piper shoved it all into Nico’s arms.

“Go change,” she ordered, pointing to the bathroom. “ _Quickly._ ”

Nico wondered if she was using Charmspeak, or if she really could be that scary. He obeyed, though, and headed into the bathroom with the clothes.

As he took off his pajamas, he stared at himself in the mirror. He looked surprisingly…okay. Somehow, in those brief seconds, they had combed and gelled his hair and put some kind of moisturizer on his face. _I should try this more often,_ he thought.

Then he picked through the outfit that the Aphrodite kids had picked out for him. Black pants and a blazer, a white shirt, dress shoes, a tie…he had never really worn anything like this before, not since he was a little kid in Italy. And back then, when his mother had always dressed him, did it even count?  
As quickly has he could, he pulled on the suit, minus the tie—he had no idea how to work that thing. Then he looked back to the mirror.

He somehow looked…older. More mature. Sharper. He found himself smiling involuntarily at his reflection.

Then Piper started pounding on the door, yelling at him to hurry it up, so he opened it and stepped out of the bathroom.

“Wow,” all four Aphrodite kids sighed simultaneously.

Nico fidgeted a little, uncomfortable with all the attention. He held out the tie to Piper. “Um, I don’t know how to do this.”  
Mitchell immediately snatched it from his hands, stepped close, and looped it around his neck. As he was tying it, he grinned. “Will is one lucky guy.”

Nico was one hundred-percent sure that his entire face was pink.

When Mitchell was done, he stepped back, joining the rest of his siblings, who were all still staring.

“Okay!” Piper announced after an awkward moment. “Let’s go, guys, and leave Nico alone. His date will be arriving in T-minus five minutes.” They all began to head toward the door, waving and wishing him good luck, and Piper stayed behind for a moment. “Good luck, Nico. You deserve this.”

He looked at his shoes. “Thank you.”

Then Piper smiled. “I would ruffle your hair, but I don’t think my siblings would appreciate that.” She patted his shoulder instead. “Go get ‘em!”

And then she left Nico to wait alone in silence, with nothing but his nerves.

***

True to his word, Will arrived shortly after the Aphrodite campers left. He knocked on the cabin door, and Nico took one last glance in the mirror before opening it.

He actually didn’t look half-bad. The gelled hair, the tailored suit…it was pretty cool. He was sort of proud of himself, which felt weird and unfamiliar, but also nice.

Will stared him up and down when he opened the door.

“Wow,” he breathed. “Nico, you look…wow.”

Nico was sure his entire face was red, which probably made his whole getup slightly less attractive, but that was okay. A compliment like that from Will felt better than one from anyone else.

In a rare moment of bravery, he held out his arm. “Shall we?”

Will nodded vigorously, still staring, and looped his arm through Nico’s. “We shall.”

***

“You’ve had dance lessons before, haven’t you?” Will muttered as he stepped on Nico’s foot for the fourth time.

Nico shrugged, trying to guide Will’s hand in the right direction. “I might have, back in Italy. A lot of rich kids did. I guess they stuck with me.”

Will nodded. “Muscle memory.”

“Is that a medical thing?”

“Sort of.” He grinned. Then he let go of Nico suddenly. “Hey, since you’re the professional, how about you lead?”

The music changed, and the dozen or so couples around them paused to switch positions. A few of them were fooling around—mainly Percy and Annabeth—but most of them were taking the dancing pretty seriously, Nico and Will included.

It was kind of difficult to concentrate on the motions, though, when Will looked so handsome in his blue-gray suit. Nico really, really wanted to kiss him—but that idea was sort of scaring him, so it would have to wait.

“Okay,” Nico agreed, clearing his throat along with his head. “This is a waltz.” He placed one hand on Will’s waist, which was warm even in this chilly February weather, and used the other to guide Will’s to his shoulder. Then he clasped their opposite hands together.

He was a bit doubtful that he would actually be able to do this, but when Will smiled at him, he felt like he could control the movement of galaxies.

“Now,” he said, glancing down at their feet. “One, two, three…one, two, three…”


End file.
